Newswire - Domestic

North Field, National Sports Centre (United States won toss): Canada beat United States by 82 runs

Canada won the ICC Americas Under-17 Match Play Tournament with a game to spare after handing the United States a heavy defeat yesterday.

The Canadians, who received solid contributions from their top-order batsmen, rattled up 212 for seven in their allotted overs after being asked to bat on a flat track.

In reply, the US folded for 130 in the 41st over to leave Canada’s unbeaten record intact.

“We really stood up today when it mattered,” Errol Barrow, the Canada coach, said. “We executed the plan that we came out here with and it made me pleased as a coach.”

The Canadians were never really troubled during their innings and excellent running between the stumps and disciplined batting led to them virtually batting the Americans out of the match.

Abraash Khan played a genuine captain’s innings for Canada, gathering 61 from 52 balls, with eight boundaries. The right-handed bat came to the crease with his team comfortably poised at 102 for two and shared in several useful partnerships that kept the Canadians on course for a decent total for their bowlers to defend.

Openers Harsh Thaker and Thursaanth Anantharajan got Canada off to a flyer, putting on 60 runs for the first wicket in 13 overs, with the latter dominating the stand with 48 from 81 balls.

“My top order put their hands up today and delivered,” Barrow said.

Canada lost three wickets for ten runs in the space of two overs trying to accelerate the run-rate in the closing overs, but by then the damage had been done.

The Americans used seven bowlers in vain trying to dismiss the Canadians, with Jash Patel, the left-arm spinner, whose arsenal includes the chinaman, reaping the most success with two for 26.

Asked to score at a little more than four runs per over in reply, the US found themselves in early trouble at 19 for two in the fifth over of their innings. Kushai Ganji and Jash Patel added 38 runs for the third wicket to memontarily halt the slide.

But once Ganji departed in the thirteenth over, caught off the left-arm spin of Kurt Ramdath for 28, wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals, as the Canada attack tightened the screws while bowling a steady line and length. Early-order bats Mohak Buch and Sagar Patel and middle-order bats Arjun Patel and Novendra Boodhoo were the remaining US batsmen managing double figures.

Had it not been for the 22 extras Canada leaked, the US might have been dismissed even cheaper. Thaker, the off spinner, took three for 26 bowling his allotted ten overs unchanged.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that Namibia will host Pepsi ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 2 from 17 to 24 January 2015.

Six teams will compete in the event, with the top teams earning promotion to both the Pepsi ICC WCL Championship and the four-day, first-class ICC Intercontinental Cup, both of which will commence in 2015.

Namibia will be joined by Canada, Kenya, and Netherlands, as well as the top two teams from WCL Div. 3, which will be played in Uganda from 26 October to 2 November.

This is the second ICC WCL divisional event to be played in Namibia, after it hosted the same Division in 2007.

The full schedule, squads and match officials for the tournament will be released in due course.

In a tense game that saw the momentum shift multiple times Canada beat Bermuda by 7 runs (after Duckworth Lewis was applied during the Bermuda innings).

Canada posted 210 off their 50 overs, recovering from 54 for 5 to score a defendable total on the back of a classy 76 off 92 balls from the young Arslan Khan. Khan hit six 4's and one 6 in his innings. The Canada total was boosted by Abdul Haseed scoring 36 not out and 20 runs from wicketkeeper Sharbjot Singh. Bermuda bowling was lead by off-spinning all-rounder Jordan Smith who once again opened the bowling from the Northern end. His 10 overs for 43 runs grabbed 4 Canadian top order batsmen who were finding themselves pinned down by the left arm spin of Delray Rawlins who conceded only 15 runs in his 10 overs. Rawlins also took one wicket after Sheldon Caesar expertly judged a steepling catch up into the wind at mid-wicket.

Bermuda's reply began slowly with the 3 early wickets of Dore, Paynter and Outerbridge leaving the home side at 39 for 3 and were then interrupted by rain. Duckworth Lewis was applied to provide the new target score of 200 runs in 42 overs. Delray Rawlins and Jordan Smith initially batted cautiously after the break and built an outstanding partnership of 101 runs before Smith was stumped for 27 runs. Rawlins showed great maturity as he continued to lead the run chase before finally holing out for 87 runs. His innings featured eleven 4's and two 6's (including one blow that went out of the stadium). The remaining batsmen vigilantly tried to keep up with the asking rate but fell just short. Once again Harsh Thaker was the outstanding bowler for Canada, his 9 overs only conceded 11 runs and snapped up 2 wickets. Following up his tight spell against USA yesterday he bowled 4 maidens. Miraj Patel and Kurt Ramdani both picked up 2 wickets apiece.

Canada now heads the table after the first round of games and will rest tomorrow when Bermuda takes on USA again at National Sports Centre at 10.30am.

Hamilton, Bermuda, Monday, August 18 – USA started their campaign in the ICC U17 tournament with a 36 run victory over Bermuda at the National Sports Centre. Bermuda’s captain Alex Dore won the toss this morning and elected to field. This tactic initially was rewarded with good bowling and fielding. A great throw from Chare Smith to run out Sharma and a spectacular catch by Delray Rawlins off Cameron Jeffers left USA struggling at 50-4 and then 97-6. The USA team finally found a partnership (93) of substance between Kushai Ganji and Novendra Boodhoo which allowed them to post a total of 195 all out in the 48th over.

Bermuda’s innings suffered from the regular falling of wickets as all USA bowlers found success. Ndhusha Rao was the standout bowler, his right arm seam 4 wickets for 27 off his 7 overs. At 53-8 Bermuda were bolstered by an 80 run partnership between Chare Smith and Delray Rawlins. Delray Rawlins completed his fifty and was last man out for a well-played 79 runs.

Tomorrow Canada commences their campaign playing USA at National Sports Centre at 10.30am. Bermuda will have a training session at Devonshire Recreation Club.

Hamilton, Bermuda, Tuesday, August 19 – Canada opened their campaign in the ICC U17 tournament with a comprehensive 7 wicket victory over USA with 17 overs to spare at the National Sports Centre. USA’s Captain Keifer Phil won the toss this morning and elected to bat. The USA batsman were subjected to an impressive display of miserly bowling from the Canadian team who immediately pinned the USA batsman down and took wickets on a regular basis. Harsh Thaker was the pick of the attack with 3 wickets for only 9 runs from his 10 over spell including a double wicket maiden. Captain Arbraash Khan, recently returned from the WICB U19 tournament in Guyana (where he competed on the same team as Bermuda’s own Delray Rawlins, Alex Dore and Micah Simons) returned 2 wickets for 26 runs from his 9 overs of seam bowling. To the credit of the USA team the batsmen stuck to their task and secured the 2 batting points by surviving the full 50 overs finishing at 117 for 9. Top scorer was Jash Patel with 24 from 43 balls with four 4’s and the last wicket pair of Nahusha Rao and Shehan Perara batted 7.4 overs to secure the second batting point.

Canada survived an early scare when losing their first 2 wickets with only 19 on the board with opening bowler Shehan Perarataking both wickets. Abraash Khan, Canada’s captain then came to the wicket and secured the chase with a 3rd wicket partnership of 44 with Thursaanth Anantharajan and an unbeaten 4th wicket partnership of 55 runs with Arslan Khan finished the game in the 33rd over when Keifer Phil bowled a wide off his 5th delivery.

Tomorrow Canada takes on host nation Bermuda at National Sports Centre at 10.30am. USA will have a training session at Devonshire Recreation Club.

Cricket Canada is pleased to announce the appointment of Mukesh Narula as the new head coach of Canada’s Men’s National team.

The former first class player represented Baroda and West Zone from 1985 – 1997. He later became coach of the Baroda team that finished runners up in the 2010 – 2011 Ranji Trophy. Narula also coached the West Zone team in 2010.

While in Canada Narula, a Cricket Australia Level 3 coach has worked with the Canada U19 team in 2011 and also has been coach of Brampton Masters from 2011 – 2013. They won the TDCA Elite Division in 2012.

Narula was quite appreciative of the opportunity to coach Canada and said:

“I am very grateful to Cricket Canada for giving me the responsibility as National Coach. Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to closely work with talented and budding cricketers here and I believe that we have the talent and skills that can be honed to reclaim Canada’s place in World Cricket. I am committed to lifting the performance standard of our national team, to instill confidence, self-belief, discipline and focus to achieve our mission”.

Cricket Canada’s President Vimal Hardat said:

“We are pleased to have the services of Mukesh in our preparations for the I-Cup Qualifier folloed by the World T20 Qualifier next year. Ha has a broad experience in international cricket both as a player and a coach and we are already seeing him bring the benefits of this experience to our national players. He’s got the capability of coaching all aspects of the game, his enthusiasm for it is unbelievable and he’s going to be ideal for that role”.

Meanwhile Vice President Amit Joshi said:

“It was a really difficult decision to make as we had some​outstanding candidates​ but the panel was unanimous in the choice of ​Mukesh​. ​We​ look forward to working alongside Mukesh as this is a great opportunity for Cricket Canada to make a strong comeback and be ​ ​ranked among the top associates in the Cricketing World”.

Narula will be charged with preparing a team to secure wins in the WCL Division 2 and ICC Americas T20 in early 2015.

Abraash Khan will lead Canada in the U17 ICC Americas Match Play tournament scheduled for Bermuda. For the three teams involved the tournament which runs from 18th – 24th August, 2014, serves as part of the development ahead of the 2015 ICC Americas World Cup Qualifier. The other two teams are USA and Bermuda.

The team is coached by former Canadian national Errol Barrow and managed by Anil Khanna.

The Atlantic T20 Cricket Tournament kicks off on Friday 1 August, 2014 in PEI at the Association’s grounds at Tea Hill Park, Stratford. The Cricket Canada sanctioned event, will see provincial teams from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and PEI competing against each other for regional cricketing supremacy.

Cricket has a distinguished history on Prince Edward Island, and was present at the founding of our country. On 1 September 1864, on the opening day of the Charlottetown Conference, 240 Nova Scotians crossed the Northumberland Straits to watch a match between a team from Pictou and the Charlottetown Cricket Club—the first organised sports club on the Island. With the Nova Scotians keen to avenge a humiliating home defeat at the hands of the Islanders just a week earlier, it was this match, played out on a field on St. Peter’s Road, that captured the attention of Island society on that most important of days. By all accounts, there was a very large crowd present at the match, including Lieutenant Governor George Dundas and his wife, and Charlottetown mayor, Thomas Haviland. After a tightly fought contest, the Island team, led by Dr. John T. Jenkins, and including such Island notables as James Peake Jr., Francis Longworth and Charles Hyndman, emerged victorious.

To commemorate this auspicious link (150 years) between the founding of Canada and Island cricket, the four-day Atlantic T20 tournament is being played this year on Prince Edward Island. Last year’s champions Nova Scotia will be looking to repeat their feat again this year.

At the beautiful grounds at Stanley Park in Vancouver, four provincial club champions from West came together to compete for the traditional John Ross Robertson Trophy West. Saskatchewan was represented by Stallions, Cosmos represented Manitoba, United represented Alberta, and hosts British Columbia were represented by their club champions Salim Akbar. On June 28th – Saturday, while rain played a bit of spoilsport, all four teams still competed hard in low scoring thrillers. On the North ground, Stallions battled to defend a mere 73 runs versus United. Stallions disciplined bowling allowed them to steam-roll past United’s top order. Unfortunately for Stallions, the total wasn't big enough to bring the game home and United chased down eventually. A similar target on the South Ground set by Salim Akbar was chased by Cosmos in 30 overs. On June 29, Stallions and Salim Akbar competed for the third place. Salim Akbar batting first set a target of 231. With rain coming down between the two innings, Stallions was set to chase 196 in 35 overs. Salim Akbar restricted Stallions to 120 and claimed the third place for the tournament. The much-hyped final between Cosmos and United lived up to its expectations in the first innings. Cosmos winning the toss put United into bat. While United struggled midway with 5 down for 118 runs, their middle order showed great resilience and batted through the innings to set 231 which seemed like a respectable target. After more rain and implementation of Duckworth Lewis, Cosmos was set to chase 203 in 39 overs. The disciplined bowling from United restricted Cosmos from chasing down the reduced target. United CC was crowned champions as they closed out the final game by a massive 143 runs. Farhan Malik (United) was named Bowler of the Tournament as he claimed 6 wickets. Inderpaul Sidhu (United) was named Batsman of the Tournament. Thank you BCMCL for hosting such an amazing event and congrats to United for claiming the 2014 JRRT West.

After an opening ceremony which was attended by the Minister of Sport Honourable Bal Gosal, CCO President Praim Persaud, Cricket Canada General Manager & other members of the cricketing fraternity, play got on the way in the 2014 Cricket Canada U17 Canada Cup. ATN was also on hand to cover the opening ceremony and opening day matches.

Matches on Day 1 were Ontario ‘Reds’ v Alberta and Ontario ‘Greens’ v British Columbia. Airport closure in Winnipeg meant a late arrival of the contingent from Manitoba therefore rescheduling of the matches was necessary.

At Centennial Park Ground-A Ontario ‘Reds won the toss, decided to bowl first and they were not let down as their bowlers helped to set up a huge 9 wicket win over Alberta. There was little resistance from the Alberta batsmen who were eventually bundled out for 33 runs in 26.3 overs. None of the Alberta batsmen managed to reach double figures as the high score in their inning was 18 extras.

Sidhu finished with 3 for 0 off 3.3 overs and the other wickets for Ontario ‘Reds’ were shared with Abraash Khan, Wijayaraj and Patel getting 2 each and 1 to Ramdath.

Ontario ‘Reds reached their target of 34 in 7.1 overs for the loss of Arsalan Khan who scored 9. The not out batsmen were Anantharajah 15 and Abraash Khan 5.

In the other match played at Centennial Park Ground-B, Ontario ‘Greens’ secured a 77 runs win over British Columbia. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Ontario ‘Greens’ scored 190 all out in their allotted 50 overs. The foundation for their inning was a solid half century by the captain, Thakkar who was eventually caught for 58. Other good scores came from Gill 36 and R Sidhu 28.

The wickets for British Columbia were shared with Nishar, Razique and Vethanayagam getting 2 each with 1 each to Devraj, Bhagat and Schulz-Franco.

British Columbia in reply scored 113 all out with top score of 25 not out coming from Benjamin. Other batsmen getting to double figures were Khan 17, Searle-Romeo 12 and Razique 12.

Gill was the pick of the Ontario ‘Greens’ bowlers with 4 for 26 from 10 overs. There were 2 wickets each for Irfan and Patel.